Digital Commons Network^™

Atmospheric Mercury Deposition In An Urban Environment, Mark Fulkerson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Atmospheric mercury deposition, known to be a major source of mercury to aquatic and terrestrial environments, was studied at an urban site in Orlando, FL. Precipitation sampling was conducted from September 2003 to May 2006 at a Mercury Deposition Network site located on the University of Central Florida campus. Weekly rainfall and mercury wet deposition data were gathered from this site, which provided the framework of data for this study. Historical mercury wet deposition data from several sites in Florida were used to develop a regression model to predict mercury deposition at any location in Florida. Stormwater runoff from a …

An Exploratory Study Of Socially Responsibleprocurement Activitiesin The Expenditure Of Public Fundsat The State And Local Level, Donna Mccarthy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aggregate annual expenditures of federal, state and local governments, in concert with universities and school districts represents incredible purchasing power and requires great prowess in its expenditure. Over the course of centuries, procurement has been used as a policy tool to improve society. This research delved into defining and determining the involvement of state and local governments in socially responsible activities related to the expenditure of public funds. Data collected in 2005 by the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing, Inc., was reviewed to determine if the expectations set for the private sector known as corporate social responsibility could be …

An Applied Study Of Putnam's Social Capital Theory In Pontotoc County, Mississippi / By Kanin L. Reese, Kanin L. Reese

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Examining Attributions Of Blame And Consumer Trust Following Market Withdrawal Of A Pharmaceutical Product, Suvapun Bunniran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Sound Monitoring With Wireless Sensor Networks, Alex V. Jaramillo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Feeding Behavior Of Japanese Medaka As A Measure Of Neurological Activity For Marine Natural Products, Amanda J. Feldhaus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Differences In Alcohol Behavior Between Fall Semester And Spring Semester For College Freshmen / By Sara Rodriguez Trout, Sara Rodriguez Trout

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Differences In Academic Performance And Self-Regulated Learning Based On Level Of Student Participation In Supplemental Instruction, Ana Mack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined differences in academic performance and self-regulated learning based on levels of student participation in Supplemental Instruction (SI) sessions in two introductory undergraduate biology and chemistry courses offered at University of Central Florida in the Spring 2006 semester. The sample consisted of 282 students enrolled in the biology class and 451 students enrolled in chemistry. Academic performance was measured using students' final course grades and rates of withdrawal from the courses. The self-regulated learning constructs of motivation, cognition, metacognition, and resource management were measured using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Relationships between students' gender and ethnic …

A Study Of Florida Public Elementary School Principals' Job Satisfaction Following The Implementation Of Florida's A+ System For Grading Schools, Robert Paswaters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem of this study was to examine the impact of Florida's A+ program of accountability on elementary principal job satisfaction. Specifically, the study was conducted to determine the relationship between a school's grade and principal job satisfaction. Of primary interest was the extent to which school accountability impacted principal satisfaction with the facets of Work on Present Job, Pay, Opportunities for Promotion, Supervision, People on the Present Job, and the job as a whole. The instruments used, the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) and Job in General (JIG) were provided through the JDI Research Office housed at Bowling Green State …

Cures To Stalled Development: Causes And Solutions To Economic Crisis In Sub-Saharan Africa, Monika Thiboutot

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate some of the contending issues associated with economic underdevelopment in sub-Saharan African states. Specifically, this thesis focuses on the combined effects of World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) economic austerity programs, the increased spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the continuous democratic deficit on the sluggish economic performance within four sub-Saharan African countries – Ghana, Kenya, Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The research questions are: are there any unique political, cultural, and economic issues that underscore and determine the path of sub-Saharan African development? What are the potentials for …

A Comparison Of Marriage Education And Brief Couples Counseling, Tina Livingston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated marital adjustment for couples participating in one of two treatment groups; the Brief Integrative Couples Counseling model(Young & Long, 1998, 2007); and the PREPARE/ENRICH Empowering Couples marriage education weekend workshop (Olson & Olson,2000). This study examined the following research questions: Do couples show a different level of marital adjustment following Brief Integrative Couples Counseling compared to those who receive a marriage education treatment?; Do couples show greater marital adjustment following Brief Integrative Couples Counseling compared to those who participated in a Marriage Education weekend workshop treatment over time? This article presents an exploration of mean marital adjustment …

Organizational Change At The Service Delivery Level: An Investigation Into The Perceived Reaction To Change Initiatives In Moral, Larry Cochran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the speed of change increases, federal agencies are challenged more often to develop and implement improvements to existing programs, new programs to meet new needs, or adjustments to programs based on changed circumstances of delivery. Built on the foundation of systems theory, expectancy theory, and field theory, this research seeks to explain why some managers do not propose changes in their organizations---even when the very survival of the organization is at risk. By measuring the fields of influence encountered by managers, we find that the chain of command is supportive of change initiatives. Other organizational elements--human resources and legal …

National Merit Finalists At The University Of Central Florida-Trends, Attrition, And Retention 1997-2005, Jill Norburn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the trends, attrition and retention rates of National Merit Finalists at the University of Central Florida between the years of 1997 to 2005. This study was intended to provide information for higher education practitioners, faculty, and administrators to help them better understand the expectations and current trends of National Merit Finalists. The problem was to determine how to increase recruitment and retention while decreasing the attrition rates of these highly desirable students. The importance of this study includes identifying trends that may aid in future recruitment efforts for National Merit Finalists; finding …

A Comparison Of Three Phonological Awareness Tools Used To Identify Phonemic Awareness Deficits In Kindergarten-Age Children., Edgard Robelo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if three different tests of phonological awareness: the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processes (CTOPP) (Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte, 1999), The Phonological Awareness Test (PAT) (Robertson & Salter, 1997), and the Pre-Literacy Skills Screening (PLSS) (Crumrine & Lonegan, 1999) measure the same phonological awareness skills (content) in the same manner (procedures) and, whether typically-developing kindergarten-age students perform similarly on each of the tests. Twenty-five kindergarten students consisting of 14 males and 11 females (mean CA of 72.24 months) participated in this study. All participants were attending the second half of kindergarten in a …

A Comparison Of Mentored And Non-Mentored Novice Elementary Principals In Respect To Job Satisfaction, Colleen Skinner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if mentoring programs had an impact on job satisfaction for beginning elementary principals in the state of Florida. It also examined if the following factors impacted job satisfaction: (a) length of the mentoring program, (b) frequency of meetings, (c) selection process for the mentor, (d) the position of the mentor, or (e) age and gender of the beginning principal. The population for the study consisted of 108 elementary principals with more than six months and less than fours years of experience in the state of Florida. Twenty-four districts participated in the study, …

Application Of The Empirical Likelihood Method In Proportional Hazards Model, Bin He

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In survival analysis, proportional hazards model is the most commonly used and the Cox model is the most popular. These models are developed to facilitate statistical analysis frequently encountered in medical research or reliability studies. In analyzing real data sets, checking the validity of the model assumptions is a key component. However, the presence of complicated types of censoring such as double censoring and partly interval-censoring in survival data makes model assessment difficult, and the existing tests for goodness-of-fit do not have direct extension to these complicated types of censored data. In this work, we use empirical likelihood (Owen, 1988) …

Healthcare Information Systems:Design Theory, Principles And Application, Sandra Richardson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Healthcare information systems (HISs), as a class of systems, are not currently addressed in the MIS literature. This is in spite of a sharp increase in use over the past few years, and the uniquely qualified role that MIS has in the development of, impact and general understanding of HISs. In this project the design science paradigm frames the development of a set of design principles derived from the synthesis of the design literature, ethics literature, and professional guidelines, from both the medical and computing professions. The resulting principles are offered to address the design of healthcare information systems. Action …

A Study Of Southwest Florida High School Reading Teachers And The Implmentation Of Scientifically Based Reading Research Instruction, Virginia Harper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The literacy mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) swiftly and directly have an impact on reading teachers. The literacy directives of the act constitute a paradigm shift in reading reform, especially at the secondary level. Literacy directives require state and district level administrator's to focus on secondary reading teacher pre and in service training. Effecive secondary reading teachers must be well versed in the foundation sof Scientifically Based Reading Research. Florida is among the first states to implement six comptencies of professional development that leads to endorsement in the teaching of reading. Florida teachers of secondary reading …

Factors Influencing User-Level Success In Police Informationsharing: An Examination Of Florida's Finder System, Jr Ernest Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An important post-9/11 objective has been to connect law enforcement agencies so they can share information that is routinely collected by police. This low-level information, gathered from sources such as traffic tickets, calls for service, incident reports and field contacts, is not widely shared but might account for as much as 97% of the data held in police records systems. U.S. policy and law assume that access to this information advances crime control and counterterrorism efforts. The scarcity of functioning systems has limited research opportunities to test this assumption or offer guidance to police leaders considering investments in information sharing. …

Teaching Characteristics And Practices Which Affect Language And Literacy Development For Students With Complex Communication Needs, Laura King

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined teacher characteristics and practices identified as effective through current research for teaching students with complex communication needs. For this population, communication issues are more complex than those typically encountered in other settings. Specifically, the researcher asked: what are the desired characteristics and practices for this population, and are the desired characteristics and practices present in current settings? Working with six teachers in a large urban school district, this study utilized a multiple case study design. Criteria for participation included the teacher as the primary reading/language arts instructor for a student who used an augmentative and alternative communication …

Teacher Retention In Brevard County, Florida K-12 Schools, Kenneth Winn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This descriptive study was designed to determine the extent to which selected self-reported practical and professional factors of teaching influenced teacher job satisfaction and retention within the K-12 public education system. The population of the study was 1321 certified teachers from a large Central Florida school district. The researcher developed the survey instrument based on the constructs of teaching known for motivating teachers to remain within the public school setting (Brunetti, 2001; Farkas, Johnson, & Folena, 2005). The researcher's survey was based on the studies of Perie (1997), Brunetti (2001), and Gary (2002). The researcher personally distributed 1321 surveys, respondent …

An Investigation Of Altruism And Personality Variables Amongbeginning Counseling Students, Laura Schmuldt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Altruism is loosely defined as a desire to help others as well as acts and behaviors towards that end, particularly when no expectation of personal gain or reward exists (Batson, Fultz, Schoenrade & Paduano, 1987). It seems likely that individuals who choose to pursue acareer in counseling might be doing so out of some altruistic interest; in other words a desire to come to the aid of others in distress. It has been noted as well that some individuals may enter the counseling profession based more on self-interest; for example, as "wounded healers" hoping to work on personal issues (Wheeler, …

Police Organizational Performance In The State Of Florida:Confirmatory Analysis Of The Relationship Of The Environment And Design Structure To Performance, Jeffrey Goltz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To date, police organizations have not been rigorously analyzed by organizational scholars and most analysis of these organizations has been captured through a single construct. The purpose of this study is to develop confirmatory police organizational analysis by validating a multi-dimensional conceptual framework that explains the relationships among three constructs: environmental constraints, the design structures of police organizations, and organizational performance indicators. The modeling is deeply rooted in contingency theory, and the influence of isomorphism and institutional theory on the covariance structure model are investigated. One hundred and thirteen local police organizations from the State of Florida are included in …

General Social Trust And Political Trust Within Social And Political Groups: A Case Study, Weylan Craig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

People in society with high levels of generalized social trust and political trust are more likely to engage in civic activism and participation. Therefore, people involved in social and political groups will likely have higher levels of generalized social and political trust than the general public. What lacks in this realm of scholarship is a solid comparison of trust among people involved in social and political groups. This case-study analysis of generalized social trust and political trust among social and political groups shows the trust that is not only generated within each group, but also which types of groups are …

Engagement, Trust, And Reciprocity: Exploring The Relationship Between Social Captial And Participation In Nonprofit Organizations, Rebecca Feiler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the extent to which various forms of social capital impact participation in nonprofit organizations. Previous research has focused on the importance of trust and engagement among social and political networks to form strong community ties that can cultivate the growth of social capital and promote participation in nonprofit organizations. The data analyzed in this study were derived from the Central Florida Social Capital Benchmark survey, collected at the University of Central Florida's Institute for Social and Behavioral Sciences. To represent social capital, related variables from the survey are combined to create indices that represent civic engagement and …

Benchmarking Community Health Centers; Efficiency: Multivariate Analysis, Shriram Marathe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Community Health Centers (CHCs), designed to provide accessible and affordable health care services to low-income families, were first funded by the Federal Government as part of the War on Poverty in the mid-1960s. Improving healthcare organizational performance efficiency is paramount. It is an especially pressing need for CHCs' because they carry a disproportionate burden of caring for the uninsured within limited budgets. Prior studies suffer from conceptual and methodological limitations. A longitudinal multivariate analysis of factors influencing the performance of CHCs is needed. The purpose of this study is to benchmark CHC performance in terms of technical and cost efficiency, …

Negotiating Boundaries From Within: A Feminist-Psychodynamic Investigation Of Bulimia And Emotional Expression In Context, Deborah Pollack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In light of research demonstrating that eating disordered women have difficulty recognizing and expressing emotions, this study began by critiquing the popular conclusion that bulimic behavior signifies an arrest at the separation-individuation phase of development. Since the prevalence of bulimia nervosa has increased dramatically in the past thirty years, socio-cultural factors must also play an important role. This investigation therefore attempted to illuminate how dominant cultural ideologies perpetuate stereotypic, gendered family structures, which in turn shape the intra-psychic and interpersonal psychodynamics of bulimic women.

This multifarious approach towards understanding the construction of bulimic subjectivity necessitated that the present study use …

Adolescent Female Embodiment As A Transformational Experience In The Lives Of Women: An Empirical Existential-Phenomenological Investigation, Allyson Havill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adolescence can be a time of psychological vulnerability in the life cycle of a woman as she experiences multiple developmental changes. As articulated in the literature related to adolescent female development, a changing body may be at the heart of what can make this a time of profound transition for the adolescent girl as she attempts to negotiate alterations in her identity and self-concept, and consequently her social roles.

The purpose of this investigation of adolescent female embodiment was to understand the experience of adolescent girls as it relates to their changing bodies, and to explore the question of whether …

Does Hope Vi Deep-Six The Poor? Analyzing The Effects Of Displacement Former Residents Of Distressed Public Housing In A Mid-Sized Southern City, David Zeller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Do downtown revitalization efforts detrimentally affect people who are displaced? HUD's HOPE VI grant program provides local housing authorities with funds to leverage private investment to demolish blighted, severely distressed public housing units and replace them with mixed-use, mixed-income units. In 2002, the OHA secured an $18 million grant to redevelop a public housing project then known as Carver Court. 212 units of public housing were razed and former public housing residents were displaced to make way for redevelopment. Interviews with 55 former residents of Carver Court are analyzed to determine the self-reported effects of the local implementation of federal …

Development And Evaluation Of A Single-Session Expectancy Challenge Intervention To Reduce Alcohol Use Among Heavy Drinking College Students, Hoyee Lau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While overall rates of college student drinking have declined slightly since 1980, extreme forms of drinking are escalating. A comprehensive review of all aspects of alcohol use among college students completed by a panel of scientists and college presidents concluded that very few approaches for dealing with student drinking can be considered empirically validated, and they strongly encouraged additional efforts to develop and validate effective strategies. Expectancy challenge approaches designed to reduce risky drinking through changing key expectancies have been identified as one of the few validated strategies, but this approach has not been developed into a format that is …